Imitation
by Nalana
Summary: Somewhere in the back of his mind he knows this figure beside him isn’t Him for all their similarities. KuroFai, KuroOC...kinda. With a guest appearance of Yuko


Disclaimer: Don't own them! Nwope, Nwope.

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Somewhere in the back of his mind he knows it isn't Him. In that claustrophobic corner within him his logic nags painfully. It reminds him that the warm body resting entwined within his arms isn't the same as His. He knows it's only an illusion, a separate version. The figure is not the same he once reluctantly held.

Still, this person shares so much with Him. Prussian eyes and masking smiles correspond. Nicknames, foolish and irritating, are the same as He once said. Lemon cream locks fall to the same length. Fae is what she had introduced herself as. Kurogane knew each world could have its own copy of any one of his companions or relations, or even himself. But this almost reeked of some bitter twist created by "that damn witch."

For all their similarities, save gender, this woman would never be Him. He was dead.

His arms kept Fae nestled closer to him as his mind ran back into a time where he had let so much slip past him. The warrior remembered silly taunts and half appreciated hugs. His limbs felt heavy and slick with the ghost of warm blood that he had drawn with his own blade soaking into his cloak as he held a cool and smiling head in his lap.

The thoughts made his stomach knot as it sloshed. _Fai. My Fai. Why did you make me? Why didn't you let me find another way? Why did you make me keep horrible that promise?_ He had never found the answers he sought.

"Kuro-tan?" A soft and slightly dark voice accompanied warm fingers that were brushing away salty trails Kurogane had not realized were falling.

"Who do you cry for?" the same voice inquired.

"…" The look of pleading within this woman's eyes could not pry an answer. He hadn't spoken the name since the incident. He couldn't. It burned. A sadness beyond compare filled Fae's eyes as she brushed his ever fallen bangs away.

"You are truly he most beautiful wish that could have ever been granted to me." She said half thinking, "even if you only linger here for a breath of time, or if I am not the one you see before you." It seemed she was also perceptive.

"Before you and the children you accompany arrived here I wished upon the stars. I asked them to bring me someone who needed me, for someone to care for if only for a bit. I suppose I never considered the price." Her words made his head reel. This all sounded too familiar for his comfort.

Releasing her from his arms Kurogane sat up letting the covers fall from him. Had this been a strange sort of gift from the witch? Was she even capable of feeling sympathy in some demented form? Comforting arms wrapped around him and he leaned into them as he looked out the window.

His mind took him to yet another patch of history. In that peaceful town that had only been illusion he had let Him hold him in this same manner. It had only been a single fraction of a splinter in eternity but it was a scrap he would cherish. And now here he was with this figure that he would abandon as soon as the next feather was discovered and acquired. She had offered the comfort only she could. The bitterness could only be momentarily sated by this face and spirit.

Fae was perfectly aware that she was not the form visible to him and yet she still let him drown within her. The thought both sickened and humbled the Suwa heir. He normally frowned upon such casual unions, but the abandonment that rested within her eyes when she spoke of her past had been the last mimicry his heart had been able to handle. With a silent plead of forgiveness to a spirit that would not hear him he turned to the wanting arms desiring to protect and be sheltered if just for an hour.

Within her realm the Dimensional Witch watched the warrior as he said his farewells to the figure so close in resemblance to the special soul still within his heart. Yuko could not change fate. She could not help one side unless she herself was to pay a price. Who could say which of billions of individuals across time was worth such a risk? That was not to say she couldn't feel for those effected by other's wishes.

She had played with the chances to a fine line when she had heard the wish of young Fae. The costs from the warrior had been overbearing already. She had hoped this would sooth his pain slightly. It was clear now there was but one thing that could restore the missing piece that had been ripped from him. No imitation could do.

Counting her possibilities she sighed. Loopholes within fate were nearly impossible to find. But the force of luck played by its own chance. With a small spark of hope she looked towards one snowy dimension at a lonely creation. Perhaps one dream was not yet over…

Author's Note: "Fae" was the closest feminine counter part of Fai I could find. In fact, the western pronunciation of "Fay" is practically the same. "Fae" also refers to one spelling/abbreviation of the word "faerie."


End file.
